Alcademicstag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-16898562018-02-03T12:52:21-08:00The study of booze with Camper English.TypePadThe Future of San Francisco Cocktails (Predicted By Me) in San Francisco Magazinetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e553b3da20883401b7c94ca0f7970b2018-02-03T12:52:21-08:002018-02-03T12:52:32-08:00Ten articles by yours truly on drinking and bartending trends in the SF Bay Area. Camper English

It has been many years since I have contributed to San Francisco Magazine, but now I'm back! In the new February Bars & Nightlife issue, I have ten stories loosely themed around "Future proofing the cocktail: How Bay Area drink makers are reinventing our favorite alcoholic beverages."

Below is the intro with links to all ten stories and brief intros from me.

Two decades into the Bay Area’s cocktail awakening, you’d think that bars would have settled into a comfortable middle age—the imbibing equivalent of staying home to Netflix and chill. But you’d be wrong.

Creativity stirs all over the region, and drink makers and bar owners continue to spin out new ways to stay relevant and keep us guessing: with secret menus, popup concepts, and menu launch parties; with vibrant drinks, exotic ingredients, and bar-specific spirits; with quality concoctions served at double the speed, thanks to newfangled juices and outsourced ice. And to meet the expanding demand for quality, novelty, and expediency in booze consumption, new clusters of great bars have sprung up not just in the East Bay but also to the north and south. These changes are often nuanced but pervasive, taking place across many bars in many precincts throughout the ever-thirsty Bay Area.

Scanning the cocktail horizon, you can spot the big ideas and the small revisions that are changing the way we drink in 2018 and beyond. Here are 10 of them.

I've already got my next assignment for San Francisco Magazine, so hopefully this will be a regular thing.

Almost All the Cocktail and Spirits Books Published in 2017 for Reading or Giftingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e553b3da20883401b8d2c2ea98970c2017-11-30T09:45:10-08:002017-11-30T11:47:38-08:00Behold! Here is my round-up of all the cocktails and spirits books (plus a few others) that were released in 2017. This year, beyond the annual deluge of whisky books, there are books aping the bartender lifestyle (Drink Like a Bartender, Straight Up), more narrative books (I Hear She's a Real Bitch, By the Smoke and the Smell), and recipe books seeking to simplify the process (3 Ingredient Cocktails, The Imbible, Road Soda) rather than reveal the secrets of complex drinks from top bars.
All in all, another great year for reading about drinking. Camper English

Behold! Here is my round-up of all the cocktails and spirits books (plus a few others) that were released in 2017. This year, beyond the annual deluge of whisky books, there are books aping the bartender lifestyle (Drink Like a Bartender, Straight Up), more narrative books (I Hear She's a Real Bitch, By the Smoke and the Smell), and recipe books seeking to simplify the process (3 Ingredient Cocktails, The Imbible, Road Soda) rather than reveal the secrets of complex drinks from top bars.

All in all, another great year for reading about drinking.

The links below are to Amazon.com and if you order from there I get a little percentage from the affiliate program. However if you want to be even more awesome, you can buy my book on the Gin & Tonic too!

Complete aquavit tag:typepad.com,2003:post-539095542008-08-07T18:28:56-07:002008-08-07T18:28:56-07:00M y pal Hope S. Philbrick from Atlanta has a story in Friday's San Francisco Chronicle on aquavit and how it's consumed in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. And she oughtta know- every time I talk to her she's off to somewhere else in Scandinavia. Soon she'll start growing horns like the vikings.Camper English

My pal Hope S. Philbrick from Atlanta has a story in Friday's San Francisco Chronicle on aquavit and how it's consumed in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. And she oughtta know- every time I talk to her she's off to somewhere else in Scandinavia. Soon she'll start growing horns like the vikings.